The COVID-19 pandemic has forced many countries to lockdown all areas or all at least some parts. Many companies let their employees work from home. A lot of schools around the world are closed. No more hanging out with friends in a cafe. Luckily, we live in the digital era. Thus, having a remote business meeting, attending a virtual classroom, or even virtually hang out with friends is possible using apps. If you are an iPhone user, here is the list of the best video call apps you can use while social distancing.
See also: Best social media management apps for iPhone
Best iPhone Video Call Apps to use while social distancing
FaceTime (Best among Apple User)
The great thing about Facetime is that it comes with your Apple device as a built-in app. Therefore, you don’t need to visit AppStore and download the app. Secondly, it’s totally free, secure, and easy to use. Even your grandma or 5 years old nephew can use it with no effort.
This app is great to virtually hang out with your friends, family or larger group because it allows you to have up to 32 people at once. To spice up the call, you can create and play with a Memoji or Animoji while you are Facetiming with friends.
The bad news is, this app can only be used among Apple users and it doesn’t have a screen-sharing or sending file option. So, it’s not a good idea to use Facetime for your remote meeting with employees.
Skype (Best For Business)
The app has two versions, the free one and the paid version called Skype for Business that is integrated nicely with Office 365. If you only need it for making a small virtual meeting with less than 25 people, the free version is cool enough. The participants are able to send files, record, save the video call, and share screen (on Skype for Business).
Skype is not only recommended for business people. This app is also great for having a video call with family members and friends due to its video quality on mobile and easy-to-use user interface. The more important thing is that it’s available on many platforms – iOS, Android, Mac, Windows, Linux, Web.
Zoom (Best For Video Conferencing)
The pandemic has risen Zoom’s popularity as a video call app. It is used by many people to host or join a remote business meeting, teaching. It is even used for a virtual fitness class. The app allows up to 100 people in a video meeting on its free plan. This number is much larger than what Skype offers. It has essential business tools to share files and screens. Another interesting feature that you may not get from the other similar apps, is virtual background support. It can help to hide a messy view behind your back while in a video call.
Zoom is an excellent video call app for business meetings, school, for hanging out with friends. Sadly, they have serious security and privacy issues that appeared recently.
Houseparty (Best For Having Fun With Friends)
Unlike the other video call apps, HouseParty has built-in fun games and quizzes to play with your close friends or relatives. It isn’t an app for business meetings, but you can host a small virtual office party and play Heads Up or trivia games with your colleagues to break the boredom during lockdown days.
Houseparty is a free app and available on iOS, Android, and Web. This app is not designed for business purposes or making video conference with lots of people. Eight is the maximum number of participants who can join the same video call.
Facebook’s Messenger (Best for Social Media Addict)
If you spend a lot of time on Facebook and have many friends on this app, you can try Messenger app. It’s a messaging app that is integrated with Facebook to send text messages privately or in groups. It has a video and audio call option for you to choose besides sending the text message. You can find this app in iOS, Android, Mac, and Windows. However, to use this app your friends must have a Facebook account. The maximum number of users who can join a video call in FB Messenger is eight.
